Album Notes

"Gawdam! It's Saturday night and I'm sitting here in Oregon listening to Emma Jo & the Poets Down Here thinking, hell, Kansas City ain't that far away and the Poets have to be playing somewhere, right? The old credit card in my pocket is itching--- for emergencies only--- but a music fix is an emergency of sorts and in my dreams I am on the plane, awaiting touchdown (and winning the lottery) and a quick ride to wherever they're playing because I need to see these guys play Crowded in a crowded room. It is rock's answer to CSI Miami's club scenes, lights flashing while music pulses and vibrates you into submission, only in this case it is pounding rock and not electronic sludge. I swear to God, when you turn it up you have to move just to avoid nosebleeds and a rash.

... There is something to be said about music for comparison's sake (don't get me started on sequencing, something ignored by people in this digital pick-your-music-on-a-song-by-song-basis world), so when I hear rock, shall we say, less-heavy (the bluesy You Are There) lead in to the blistering So Long and then the beat-heavy, just short of manic Crowded (the garbage can cymbal smashes at the end of each chorus are icing on the manic cake), I appreciate the versatility.

"The truth is, though, that they are at their best when rattling windows. Emma Jo hits her vocal stride when the beat is strong and the Poets machine gun the chords. One can only imagine what they are like when barreling down the rock highway on the same track, but it must be comparable to being steamrolled.

"When I first started listening to music, the accepted gifts a la Kansas City were blues and barbeque. If Emma Jo and the Poets Down Here stay on track, they might very well make a few lists as well."
- Frank O. Gutch, Jr., Rock & Reprise

"There are a lot of interesting things at work on the album, from lead singer Emma Jo’s bluesy set of pipes, to the screeching metallic guitar riffs, to the groove-infested drums and bass."
- Chris Weaver, Present Magazine